Need hardware config recommendation
- Thread starter wjbender
- Start date
jeffpn
Well-known member
Are comments like that really necessary? If you think it's funny, why don't you just go tell your "friends" without posting your intentions here? Does it make you feel good to belittle somebody else? Do you feel like more of a man by making comments like that?REBEL said:I have to tell my friends about your PC, they'll get a good laugh.
opjose
Well-known member
REBEL said:Holly CRAP! Your PC has 6 fans AND 6 HDDs!!
It's great that they are so easily amused by trivial things.
I'll bet you'll have your friends ROTFL when you tell them about my 12+ fan computers too.
But I guess you must style yourself a "Pee Cee Expurt", huh?
Hawkfixer
New member
REBEL said:Holly CRAP! Your PC has 6 fans AND 6 HDDs!!
No wonder you need 6 fans when you have 6 HDDs. Now I know where the heat's coming from. Instead of adding another HDD when you run out of space, why don't you just get one really big HDD and clone your old drive onto it? Also, if your power supply doesn't provide enough Watts to run all that, then IT will also produce excess heat.
What good is a PC that's louder than the game or software you're running? NO good.
A well-built PC will have efficient cooling AND be quiet. Also, I would NEVER buy or recommend a case that does not have the USB and other ports on the front and the power supply mounted in the TOP rear. Most people I know (including me) have their case inside a desk, so the Antec case you show would be useless unless you add a "doodad" in one of the drive bays to provide front ports.
Finally, if you want your PC to run as cool as possible, you should use a power supply like the OCZ Stealth and a HDD like the Western Digital Caviar SE. Both are ultra quiet and run very cool.
Number one, anyone who recommends a 8500/9500 series card for the DIY builder with a $1000 budget has already displayed a serious lack of computer knowledge. Much less the fact you keep yours locked up in a desk of any type.
Number two, the Antec 900 is one of the best air cooling cases out there for a very reasonable price. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can often find it for $59 on Newegg. Also, all the fans in it are three position switchable. On medium, the noise vs. performance ratio is excellent.
Number three, the WD green drives save about 6 watts of power. About $7 a year. Not worth it when a computer is being used for gaming. The power savings vs performance simply sucks.
Number four, a single large HDD isn't always the preferred option. RAID arrays are best set up with five drives of the same make with a single, large backup/storage drive. I have four HDD's in my computer and use the hell out of all of them. One is a dedicated Ubuntu drive I boot with via BIOS options. But this is enthusiast level stuff, so your view from the entry level is rather narrow, but understandable. Even if you aren't using a RAID array, having multiple, smaller HDD's rather than one large drive allows you to maintain a better form of data integrity simply because if the large hard drive fails, you lose it all no matter if it's partitioned into smaller drives or not. By utilizing a single, large drive as your OS drive and then using one or more smaller, lower cost drives to do redundant backups, you further protect your critical files without having to depend on the wonkiness of most RAID set ups. It requires more user input, but is safer overall IMHO. And if you aren't using a RAID array, you'll typically want to use your largest/newest drive as the OS drive since the platter density is much higher, which allows for better performance. Also, even having six HDD's isn't going to greatly contribute to the case temperatures when you consider the CPU, Chipset, MOSFETS, Caps, regulators and GPU. Stacking them one on top of another is what causes a significant heat signature and controlling heat on HDD's is required more due to the relatively lower operating temperatures drives are capable of rather than their contribution to the overall case environment.
Number five, categorically eliminating a case due to the PSU location shows your basic lack of understanding of what the benefits are on having a low mounted PSU. Since the majority of PSU's pull air from inside the case and exhaust it out the back, the Antec 900 is perfectly suited for a lower mounted PSU. The huge exhaust fan up top takes care of any hot air moving upwards, so by placing the PSU in the lower part of the case, the PSU gets the coolest air through it's intake and contributes nothing to heating up the case. This means the PSU operates at a lower temperature which increases its efficiency and also, the PSU cooling fan doesn't have to work as hard. A PSU cooling fan is typically one of the noisier parts of a computer.
I get the feeling you have a single system setup that you've always used. There are many other ways to configure a computer than the typical "this goes here and that goes there because it's been that way since 1990." You also probably use a $25 PSU.
My advice to the OP is to not save money on the PSU. Buy a cheapo case if you can stand the aggravating omissions that come with them. But if you want your computer to last and to be stable, get a nice Corsair, OCZ or PC Power and Cooling unit. Antec makes some good ones as well. But before I go through the trouble of making a long post on component recommendations, I'd like to know if the OP is still seeking advice.
opjose
Well-known member
Hawkfixer:
Thank you.
Those who throw their so called "credentials" into a conversation, tend to do so because they cannot argue with an established knowledge based background.
Those who "know" don't have to do this, because their creds are visible in their factual retorts, as you've done.
"Pee Cee Expurts" like "Rebel" are a dime a dozen....
Thank you.
Those who throw their so called "credentials" into a conversation, tend to do so because they cannot argue with an established knowledge based background.
Those who "know" don't have to do this, because their creds are visible in their factual retorts, as you've done.
"Pee Cee Expurts" like "Rebel" are a dime a dozen....
Hawkfixer
New member
opjose said:
Thank you opjose.
My qualifications come from years of working on computers and building them for myself and family/friends. I'm not as much into the extreme stuff anymore, like dice and the now much more common place water, but I still maintain a healthy rig.
I'm also fairly well known on MaximumPC Forums under a different screen name. But I'll let my willingness to help and display of sound advice do the talking for me here.